Sources: Saints, Payton agree to terms on deal

Last Modified: Saturday, December 29, 2012 8:03 PM

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints and suspended coach Sean Payton will indeed be together again next season as the
bounty scandal fades into history and the bid to win a second Super Bowl resumes.

Payton has agreed in principle to a multiyear contract extension, the team said.

"Very happy it is official," quarterback Drew Brees said in an email to the AP. "Never had any doubts."

Payton was due to begin his seventh season as the Saints' head coach in 2012 before being suspended for the whole season by
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in connection with the NFL's bounty investigation.

"I am pleased that Sean Payton will be our head coach for a long time," owner Tom Benson said in a statement. "Now we can
focus our attention on building on the winning tradition with the Saints that Sean has played such a large role in."

Payton signed an extension in 2011 worth
more than $6 million a year that would have kept him in New Orleans
through 2015,
but Goodell objected to certain language in that deal, leaving
Payton's future uncertain until the deal was reached Friday.
The language in question in the previous extension gave Payton the
right to opt out early if general manager Mickey Loomis
left the club for any reason.

The new agreement also must be approved by the NFL. The team did not disclose the length of the extension or financial terms.

Payton is the only coach in Saints history to win a Super Bowl, a title earned at the end of the 2009 season. But his legacy
was tarnished by the NFL's bounty probe, as Goodell ruled that Payton failed to exert proper institutional control over a
cash-for-hits bounty program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams from 2009-2011.

Although the Saints objected to the characterization of what coaches and players have said was nothing more than a performance
pool for big plays, Goodell suspended Payton for the entire season. The commissioner also suspended Loomis for half of the
season and assistant head coach Joe Vitt for six games.

Payton is 62-34 in regular-season games as
Saints coach and 5-3 in the postseason. During the three seasons before
his suspension,
the Saints won 41 regular-season and playoff games combined, more
than any other team in the NFL.

Payton has primarily handled the offense in
New Orleans, teaming up with Brees to break numerous NFL and club
records. The
single-season NFL records set by the Saints in 2011 included yards
passing by a team (5,505) and a quarterback (5,476). The
Saints also set a record for total offensive yards with 7,474.

Although speculation ran rampant that Payton
could essentially become a free agent after this season and end up
elsewhere,
Brees repeatedly said he would be "shocked" if Payton ended up
anywhere but New Orleans next season. Brees is under contract
with the Saints through the 2016 season, and Payton was the
driving force in the Saints' effort to acquire Brees as a free
agent in 2006.

Without Payton on the sideline this season,
the Saints missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Brees
remained prolific,
but his 18 interceptions also tied for a league high heading into
the final weekend of the season.

The Saints headed into Sunday's season finale against Carolina at 7-8, hoping to avoid their first losing season since they
went 7-9 in 2007.

Payton is expected to return to the Saints immediately after the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, unless Goodell allows him to return
earlier.

When Payton reports back to work, it will
officially close the book on the bounty saga that has overshadowed the
Saints' organization
since the NFL first announced on March 2 that it found the Saints
ran a program that paid improper cash bonuses for hits that
injured opponents.

In addition to the suspensions of Payton,
Loomis and Vitt, the Saints also were docked second-round draft choices
in 2012
and 2013, though Goodell has said he could potentially restores
the Saints' 2013 second-round choice and dock the team a later-round
pick.

Meanwhile, four current or former Saints
were initially given suspensions of varying lengths. Two current Saints
defensive
captains, linebacker Jon Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, were
among those suspended. Vilma was banned for the whole season
and Smith for four games, but the players successfully challenged
their punishment with the help of the NFL Players Association
and never served a game.

Former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was
appointed by Goodell to oversee the players' appeals, ruled that the NFL
probe
was accurate in its findings that the Saints ran an improper
program and attempted to cover it up, but that the evidence was
not strong enough to warrant unprecedented suspensions for players
who had been only fined for similar behavior in the past.